“Mr. Howells has made a patient study of Boston people, and shows himself a delicate satirist…[An] able and thoroughly enjoyable novel.” New York Times, 1885
Description
Howells’ best-known work and a subtle classic of its time, The Rise of Silas Lapham is an elegant tale of Boston society and manners.
After garnering a fortune in the paint business, Silas Lapham moves his family from their Vermont farm to the city of Boston in order to improve his social position. The consequences of this endeavor are both humorous and tragic as the greedy Silas brings his company to the brink of bankruptcy.
The novel focuses on important themes in the American literary tradition—the efficacy of self-help and determination, the ambiguous benefits of social and economic progress, and the continual contradiction between urban and pastoral values—and provides a paradigm of American culture in the Gilded Age.
Praise
“Mr. Howells has made a patient study of Boston people, and shows himself a delicate satirist…[An] able and thoroughly enjoyable novel.” New York Times, 1885
“A novel which no one can neglect who cares to understand American character…[Howells] has at last attained the mastery of narrative which we see in The Rise of Silas Lapham.” Saturday Review (London), 1885
“Silas Lapham is the most enjoyable of Howell’s Books to read and study.” Kermit Vanderbilt
“[The Rise of Silas Lapham] is a book to read with a great deal of pleasure and to be laid down, after being read, with much disappointment.” Washington Post
“Grover Gardner is one of America’s most popular and versatile audiobook narrators and winner of an Audio Publishers Association Audie Award. In this interesting period piece, he does an excellent job voicing the characters with believable and natural Boston and New England accents. Gardner reads with just the right dramatic touch without overdoing it, keeping the listener’s attention from beginning to end.” Soundcommentary.com (starred review)
Details
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Release Day | Apr 4, 2012 |
| Release Date | April 5, 2012 |
| Release Date Machine | 1333584000 |
| Imprint | Blackstone Publishing |
| Provider | Blackstone Publishing |
| Categories | Literature & Fiction, Classics, Classics, Evergreen Classics, Evergreen Classics, Classics, Fiction - All, Fiction - Adult |
Author Bio
William Dean Howells (1837–1920) was an American realist author and literary critic. Nicknamed “the Dean of American Letters,” he was particularly known for his tenure as editor of the Atlantic Monthly as well as his own writings, including the Christmas story “Christmas Every Day” and the novel The Rise of Silas Lapham. He is known as the father of American realism. In 1915, he was awarded the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction.
Narrator Bio
Grover Gardner (a.k.a. Tom Parker) is an award-winning narrator with over a thousand titles to his credit. Named one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards, was chosen Narrator of the Year for 2005 by Publishers Weekly, and has earned more than thirty Earphones Awards.
Overview
Howells’ best-known work and a subtle classic of its time, The Rise of Silas Lapham is an elegant tale of Boston society and manners.
After garnering a fortune in the paint business, Silas Lapham moves his family from their Vermont farm to the city of Boston in order to improve his social position. The consequences of this endeavor are both humorous and tragic as the greedy Silas brings his company to the brink of bankruptcy.
The novel focuses on important themes in the American literary tradition—the efficacy of self-help and determination, the ambiguous benefits of social and economic progress, and the continual contradiction between urban and pastoral values—and provides a paradigm of American culture in the Gilded Age.
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